What About Night and
Day?
The second issue in
this text has to do with no rest
– day or night. Look again at
the verse. John says that people who
worship the beast and receive his
mark have no rest day or night.
Here is the point.
There will be a group of people who
submit to the devil’s demands
when he physically appears on Earth.
In order to submit, they will have to
violate their conscience. If they do
not have a conscience, they will
violate the will of others. Human
rights will not exist. In order to
survive, people will submit to the
devil. Ignoring their conscience,
they will do horrible deeds.
Guilt-ridden, they will not have
peace day or night remembering the
evil deeds they committed against
God’s people.
Tormented Day and
Night Forever
Last, notice one more
problem text in Revelation: “And
the devil, who deceived them, was
thrown into the lake of burning
sulfur, where the beast and the false
prophet had been thrown. They will be
tormented day and night for ever and
ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
If you separate this
verse from all other Scriptures, you
could interpret that people thrown
into the lake of fire at the end of
the millennium will be tormented day
and night forever and ever. If you
use this one “proof” text
to prove your argument, the concept
of an eternally burning hell could be
confirmed. However, earnest Bible
students know that fundamental
doctrines require broad support from
many Bible writers. More importantly,
there should be harmony from the sum
of all the parts. Let the entire
Bible speak and then weigh the
evidence! The reason so many
conflicting beliefs on Bible doctrine
exist today is that too few are used
to support doctrine.
One definition of
denominationalism is a process where
a group of people exalt a few texts
above all others – sometimes to
the exclusion of the weight of
evidence. This explains why there are
differences between American
Baptists, Southern Baptists,
Primitive Baptists, Free Will
Baptists, Evangelical Lutherans and
Missouri Synod Lutherans, Mormons.
Please do not misunderstand my point.
Religious differences are not
necessarily bad. However, the use of
too few verses can produce
conclusions that are contrary to what
the bible actually teaches!
So, if we reconcile
all Bible texts on this subject, we
find a reasonable solution to
John’s statement in Revelation
20:10. John says that the wicked will
be tormented day and night, forever
and ever, which means they will be
tormented as long as they exist.
Apparently, the
burning process will be longer for
some people than others. In other
words, people who have been extremely
wicked will suffer compensation
commensurate with their deeds. Satan
will burn the longest! (Exodus 22:9;
2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 14:10)
The saints will determine the amount
of compensation! Jesus told his
disciples: “…I tell you
the truth, at the renewal of all
things, when the Son of Man sits on
His glorious throne, you who followed
me will also sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) “Do
you not know that the saints will
judge the world…Do you not know
that we will judge angels?”
(2 Corinthians 6:2,3)
The key to
understanding this problem text is
the Biblical definition of the word
“forever.” It does not
necessarily mean throughout endless
eternity. Consider how the word
forever is used in this text, “Achish
trusted David and said to himself,
‘He has become so odious to his
people, the Israelites, that he will
be my servant forever.’” (1
Samuel 27:12) Will David be a servant
to King Achish for eternity? No.
Achish wanted David to be a servant
for as long as he lived. In a similar
way, the marriage vow ends at death
– “until death do us
part” – because forever can
only be possible as long as the
people of the marriage exist. The
torment of justice described in
Revelation 20:10 lasts until there is
nothing left of the sinner. When sin
and sinners are finally destroyed,
death and sorrow will be history.
Missing Heaven Will be
Hell
This article may not
convince you that there is no
eternally burning hell. However, the
weight of the evidence throughout the
Bible must be considered if we are to
properly understand what God is going
to do. One thing is certain. God is
love. Because His love is great and
everlasting, I want to spend eternity
with Him. His justice is fair and His
mercy is full. His qualities combine
in wonderful ways that cause a spring
of affection involuntarily to rise
within me. God’s truths are too
wonderful to describe and His peace
too deep to explain. Missing Heaven
after realizing what it is all about
– will be hell.
A Short Study of
Revelation’s 20’s 1,000
Years
Students of Bible
Prophecy generally ascribe to four
basic views regarding the 1,000 years
mentioned in Revelation 20. There are
also variations within each view.
They are: 1) Premillennialism, 2)
Postmillennialism, 3) A
millennialism, and 4) Panmillialism.
Premillennialism
This popular view
teaches that Christ’s kingdom on
Earth will be established before
the millennium begins. In essence,
premillennialism teaches that Jesus
will reign for 1,000 years in peace
and righteousness from the throne of
David in a rebuilt Jerusalem. At the
end of the 1,000 years, there will be
a final resurrection, judgment and
renewal of the heavens and the Earth.
Then Christ’s kingdom will be
consolidated with the eternal kingdom
and He will return the kingdom of
Earth back to the Father. Many
premillennialist believe that the
promises and covenants God gave to
ancient Israel in the Old Testament
are unconditional; therefore, He will
literally fulfill all He initially
promised to Israel during the 1,000
years. There is some dispute among
premillennialists concerning the
identity and role of the saints
during the millennium. Some scholars
teach that the saints will rule as
priests and kings with Christ over
the unconverted. Others believe the
Jews will be converted to
Christianity as a result of the
rapture and then will rule over the
Gentiles. The net effect in either
case is that the saints will rule
over the wicked.
Postmillennialism
Postmillennialism is
the opposite of Premillennialism.
Postmillennialism describes
Christ’s Kingdom as established
on Earth after the 1,000 years
are over. One group of
postmillennialists believe that the
world will continue as it is, getting
more and more Christianized as a
result of Christians sharing the
gospel on a wider scale (worldwide
TV, short-wave radio, Bibles printed
in may languages). When the world is
completely converted, then a long
period of peace and prosperity will
exist for the next 1,000 years. At
the end of the 1,000 years, Christ
will return to Earth, resurrect the
dead, perform the final judgment,
give the saints eternal life and
destroy the wicked. Another group of
postmillennialists believe the earth
is desolate of mankind during the
1,000 years, Christ establishes His
Kingdom on earth.
Amillennialism
Adherents of
Amillennialism maintain that the
1,000 years is not a literal
period of peace and righteousness. It
is believed that the millennium
alludes to a present reign of
deceased souls with Christ in Heaven,
which is followed by Christ’s
second coming, a resurrection, final
judgment, and Christ’s eternal
reign over a perfect Kingdom here on
Earth. Just what takes place during
the 1,000 years of revelation 20 is a
matter of debate among
amillennialists. Basically,
amillennialism stands in opposition
to the first two options: pre- and
post-millennialism. The millennium,
according to amillennialism, is
better understood in an allegorical
sense.
Panmillennialism
People who identify
themselves as Panmillennialists are
not comfortable with the three
previous views, but believe over
time, the millennium will
“pan-out” just as God
intends. Obviously, this view is no
view.
What is the truth
about the 1,000 years of Revelation
20? Do Christians really need
to know about the millennium right
now? Certainly, the subject of the
millennium years invites many
questions.
A Completed Picture
It is human to discuss
the importance of things we do not
understand. An elderly man once said
to me, “I have lived 80 years
without understanding the millennium.
Do you really thing I need to know
about it now?” I smiled
and responded, “People have
lived on Earth for thousands of years
without refrigerators. Do we really
need them now?”
The point behind
my tongue-in-cheek response is that
God has included “timely”
information in the Bible; that is,
when the right time comes, the
information becomes essential to
those who want to understand the ways
of God. The better we understand
God’s actions, the deeper our
faith in god can grow! Therefore, I
find the subject of the millennium
important right now, because
the time has come. Information
revealed in Revelation 20 will bring
the big picture into a sharper focus.
In other words, the millennium and
its intricate details reveal how God
is going to deal with seven groups of
people.
Conclusions are Built
on Basic Extensions
Every presentation on
the millennium is based on
suppositions or axioms that expositor
believes to be true. For example, the
view of Hal Lindsey and Jack Van Impe
align with their basic doctrinal
beliefs. So do mine. In fact, I have
read the conclusions of several
expositors on the millennium and have
discovered that all of them have one
point in common: The millennium
serves as a means to a glorious end.
Each expositor believes the
millennium to be a vehicle through
which God terminates the sin problem.
Obviously, any expositor’s
conclusion is related to what they
understand the sin problem to be and
this is why there are significant
differences on the subject.
My understanding of
the millennium aligns with five
essential Biblical truths and one of
the five is the mortality of
man’s soul. In Ezekiel, we find
that the soul that sins, dies.
(Ezekiel 18:4) As stated earlier,
many Christians believe the soul is
immortal and goes to Heaven or Hell
at the time of death. However, my
conclusions, based on Scripture,
indicate that this is not the case.
In fact, when the subject of death is
correctly understood the millennium
becomes understandable. In addition,
more importantly, Revelation 20
explains how God finally and fairly
terminates the sin problem. Thus, the
big picture of God’s PLAN to
save man is completed with the
closing chapters of Revelation. For
me, the subject of the millennium
reveals a loving and thoughtful God!
